STATEMENT REGARDING GUILTY PLEA OF
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE EMPLOYEE

Mr. Arnold Waldemar Nidecker III, manager of
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge in Hackberry, LA, has pled guilty in United States
District Court to one count of making false statements to his employing Federal agency,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The felony to which he has admitted involved the
falsifying of bid invitations and bid submissions for mitigation contracts to correct
damage from oil and gas operations on refuge lands. The U.S. Attorney handling the case
stated in court that while the company that received the mitigation contract did so
without competitively bidding for it, the contract was properly performed for a reasonable
price, and the oil company that paid for the work was not defrauded.

The Service is currently conducting its own thorough review of this matter to determine
what administrative action will be taken in this case. We do not anticipate announcing
that action prior to Mr. Nideckers sentencing, which is scheduled for July 1998.

In the meantime, Mr. Nidecker has been detailed out of his current management position
to a staff position at Lafayette Field Office, in Lafayette, LA for an indefinite period.
Operations at Sabine National Wildlife Refuge will continue under the leadership of Mr.
Terence Delaine, currently the Assistant Manager at Cameron Prairie National Wildlife
Refuge in Bell City, LA. Mr. Delaine will assume the role of acting refuge manager at
Sabine beginning today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats
for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages more than 94
million acres of land and water consisting of 512 national wildlife refuges, 65 national
fish hatcheries, 38 wetland management districts with waterfowl production areas, and 50
wildlife coordination areas.